*VITAMIN A: Its Health Benefits*

On the  mention of vitamin A (retinol), what flows through the mind of many is good vision. But vitamin A, though important for good vision, has other health benefits.

Vitamin A (retinol) is a fat soluble vitamin that is essential (i.e. can't be synthesize) for human. Human and animals that can't synthesize vitamin A rely on vitamin A rich diets as their source of vitamin A. Vitamin A has anti-oxidant properties.

Vitamin A deficiency is rare this is because vitamin A is a fat soluble vitamin A, hence can be stored by in the body unlike water soluble vitamin C and B vitamins which can't be stored in the body.

Vitamin A has three active forms (retinal, retinol and retinoic acid). In foods of animal origin vitamin A is in the form of  retinyl ester (primarily as retinyl palmitate). While in plant foods it occur as carotenes (beta, alpha, and gamma carotene) which can be converted to the active form.

Since vitamin A can be stored in the body, its daily intake is not really necessary, though a dail


http://caring4naija..com/2015/11/vitamin-its-benefits.html